Special Roads

Alleys

If alleys are mapped (e.g. Chicago area), the road type should be set as Parking Lot Road and given a name of "Alley". Other attributes (city, direction, turn restrictions) should be set as if it were any other drivable road. See Road types here.

Waze will route to the closest segment for a set of destination coordinates. This may result in the destination being in they alley. Refer to the FAQ for additional information.

Non-Drivable Roads

Due to changes in Waze routing, this entire section will need to be revised or removed in the future.

Generally, if a road can't be driven on (e.g. Walking Trail, Pedestrian Boardwalk, Stairway, Railroad, Runway/Taxiway) then it should not be mapped in Waze. This is due to the way the routing engine works, as Waze WILL route users to drive on these "Non-Drivable" road types.

Note: There are several Railroads mapped in Illinois, these are due to users incorrectly running Waze while on the train & contributing false data to the system. This false data has been known to effect drivers on adjacent roads. These railroads are mapped in a VERY particular manner by Senior Area Managers and Country Managers to prevent Waze from routing on them.

Time Restricted Turns

As of November,2013, we now have the ability to edit time-based turns. To edit these restrictions, please follow the Partial restrictions article.

Reversible travel roads such as the express lanes on the Kennedy Expressway in Chicago are mapped as a 2-way Freeway road with turns enabled at all entrance ramps in both directions. As of November 3,2013[update], the road segments have been set with the times each direction as restricted. They were set by the times found here. If you encounter problems with the express lanes, please contact a Rank 5 editor to discuss the problem.

As a method of providing feedback to other editors, it is recommended to create a small landmark of type Junction/Interchange near the intersection with details of the restriction. Since many people turn off the landmark layer unless working specifically on landmarks, creating a small railroad segment (not attached to any other segments) either with the restriction information or a note to refer to a landmark is an alternative.

With the ability to set the turn restrictions, this method is no longer needed. If you find any, please set the restrictions and delete the RR segment. Waze has asked that we stop using the RR segment method because they plan on making RR segments visable in the client.

We are compiling a Time Based List here to make the setting of these easier.

Speed / Red Light Cameras

Both Speed and Red Light Cameras are legal in the State of Illinois.

Speed Cameras

Illinois has a small number of mobile Speed Cameras that can be deployed in construction zones. Given their mobile nature, these devices should not be mapped.

At present, Chicago is the only municipality in the state permitted to implement Speed Cameras. Four locations in Chicago had speed cameras installed for a trial period between December 3, 2012 and January 3, 2013. No tickets were issued during this time and these cameras were removed.

Red Light Cameras

Other Camera Types

These are cameras or signs that either provide driver feedback or are used for traffic control. These devices CAN NOT issue tickets and should not be mapped.

Non-camera "driver feedback signs" are a radar/laser equipped sign that measures speed and displays the speed back to the driver. These can be fixed or trailer mounted with the later being much more prevalent.

There are also cameras mounted on traffic signals that are used as part of the signal control. These compare sequential images of the intersection approach to determine if there is a vehicle (car, truck, motorcycle, bicycle, etc) waiting and will trigger the sequence.

There are traditional traffic monitoring cameras covering most of the major highways in the state. These send live video to IDOT & local media and serve ONLY as a traffic monitoring system.